Wilsonville resident Rob Candrian is running for Mayor

Wilsonville resident Rob Candrian is running to be the city’s next mayor.

As of Thursday, July 25, three candidates have filed to run for mayor. The term of current Mayor Julie Fitzgerald will end this year, and she is ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits. Shawn O’Neil and Glenn Lancaster have also announced that they will run for mayor.

The filing deadline is Aug. 20.

In an email City Recorder Kimberly Veliz said Candrian is approved to collect signatures. Those running in the election must gather at least 20 signatures from registered Wilsonville voters after receiving pre-authorization from the city recorder’s office.

Candrian is currently vice chair of Wilsonville’s Development Review Board panel A. According to his filing sheet he previously was a finalist to be executive director of the Oregon Ethics Commission and attended the Wilsonville Leadership Academy in 2019.

Candrian currently works as an insider threat senior manager at semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, and previously worked as an insider threat program manager at Wells Fargo, president at Highway Specialties LLC and a collection management officer at the Central Intelligence Agency. He has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah and a law degree from Pepperdine University.

Candrian said he wants to bring a new generation of nonpartisan leadership to Wilsonville.

“I think that the people of Wilsonville need to have a choice of someone who is actually nonpartisan, and just wants to have good, common logical solutions to the problems that the city’s facing,” Candrian said.

One issue Candrian is focused on is intentional growth, which he said means “having proper infrastructure in place before we approve additional development.” He said he wants to use tax dollars “responsibly” fund improvements beneficial to all residents and also find “suitable, realistic solutions” to the vacant properties in Wilsonville’s downtown area such as the former locations of Fry’s Electronics, Regal Cinemas and World of Speed.

The building formerly housing Regal Cinemas in Town Center has been vacant since July 2023, and the nearby building previously operated by Fry’s Electronics has been vacant since 2021. Recently, Home Depot has pushed to move into the former Fry’s Electronics building despite repeated denials from the city.